Testing devices or electrical test equipment (ETE) of various types exist. Devices that are tested by the ETE are oftentimes referred to as a “device under test” or a DUT, at least during the time of testing. One example of an electronic device that is subjected to a number of tests or the like prior to being released to the consumer are disc drive devices. There may be a need to provide one or more electrical signals to one or more of the various components within the drive both for testing purposes and servo writing operations. Other examples of electronic devices that are typically tested prior to being released include without limitation devices that incorporate a printed circuit board.
Typical ETE use what are commonly referred to as one or more “pogo pins” or probes to establish an electrical connection with a DUT. A pogo pin-type electrical connector in the case of a disk drive ETE is a four-piece assembly—a probe body, a receptacle in the probe body, a pogo pin or probe disposed within the receptacle, and a return spring that is disposed within the receptacle and that biases its corresponding pogo pin in the direction of maintaining electrical contact with the mating connector. This four-piece assembly is normally press-fit into a precision-machined housing, which in turn is mounted to a printed circuit board.
Pogo pin-type electrical connectors are susceptible to damage when the DUT and the ETE are misaligned. For instance, a misaligned pogo pin of the ETE may get wedged or squeezed in between two adjacent contacts of the DUT. In any case, at least a certain misalignment between the ETE and the DUT may expose one or more pogo pins to a “side force”—a force that is not directed along the length dimension of the pogo pin and that coincides with the direction that the pogo pin is intended to move when engaged with a mating connector (e.g., the vector of the force and the central axis of the pogo pin are not coaxial in this case). Forces of this type may bend one or more pogo pins or otherwise adversely affect their operability in some respect.
In ETE used with disc drives, the electrical connector is exposed to what may be characterized as a high cycle environment—one in which a DUT is engaged with the electrical connector for testing, and is thereafter disengaged on a frequent basis. For example, a high cycle ETE may accept a disk drive every three minutes for executing one or tests or performing one or more operations on the disk drive. It is not uncommon for this type of ETE to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Therefore, the pogo pin-type electrical connector is highly susceptible to becoming damaged, having one or more of its parts simply wear out, or both. A damaged pogo pin-type electrical connector should of course be replaced, and therefore subjects the ETE to down-time and a corresponding reduction in productivity.